The English Housekeeper/Chapter 28
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE CELLAR.
A good cellar, besides its general convenience, in regard to a variety of household purposes, is indispensable to every one who wishes to have good beer. However skilful and successful the brewer, no beer, nor, indeed, any fermented liquors (with few exceptions), can be kept good, any length of time, especially in the summer months, unless they be secured from being turned sour by heat, and by sudden variations of the atmosphere. No cellar can be considered perfect which is not below the surface of the ground. Houses in the country are frequently without the convenience of underground cellaring; but every house ought, where it is practicable, to be built over cellars, which, independently of other advantages, contribute very materially to the dryness and warmth of the building.
The directions for brewing, given by my father, in his "Cottage Economy," are so circumstantial, and so simple, clear, and intelligible, that any person, however inexperienced, who reads them with attention, may, without further instruction, venture to brew without risk of a failure. It is certain that many families, who had previously never thought of brewing their own beer, have been encouraged by the plainness and simplicity of his directions to attempt it, and have never since been without good home-made beer. Brewing is not, perhaps, in strictness, a feminine occupation; there are, nevertheless, many women who are exceedingly skilful in the art. It is obviously not within the province of the mistress of a house, even to superintend the brewing department, but, when circumstances may render it necessary that she should undertake the task, she cannot, when about to give her directions, do better than consult the "Cottage Economy."
The utensils necessary are: a copper, a mash-tub and stand, an under-back, to stand under the edge of the mash-tub, when the malt is put in, two buckets, a strainer, a cooler, a tun-tub, and a cask to put the beer in.
Having these utensils, the next thing is, materials for making the beer. These are, soft water, malt, and hops. The water should be soft, because hard water does not so well extract the goodness of the malt; but if you have none but hard water, soften it by letting it stand two days in some open vessel in the air. The malt should be (or, at least, usually is) ground or bruised into a very coarse meal. The hops should be fresh, of a bright yellow, and highly scented. Farnham hops are the cleanest and best. I give receipts for finings, but do not recommend them, though they certainly will make beer clear which might not be so without them.
The process is this: if you mean to make about a hogshead of beer, take 120 gallons of water (soft, or softened by exposure to the air), and put it into the copper. When it has boiled, pour it into the malt. This is rather a nice matter; if you put in the malt too soon, it cakes and becomes dough. The old-fashioned rule is, to let the steam keep flying off till you can see your features in the water; but as the weather frequently renders this an uncertain criterion, take your thermometer, and plunge it into the water now and then, and when the quicksilver stands at 170, the heat is about right. Pour the malt in gently, taking care to stir it about as it goes in, so as to separate it, and make every particle come in contact with the water; when it is all in, stir it for twenty minutes or half an hour; then put your stirring-stick across the mash-tub, and cover cloths all over to keep in the heat. Let this, which is called mashing, go on for four or five hours. It cannot well be too long about. When the malt has remained soaking all this time, draw off the liquor by means of your buckets, and put it into the copper again. This liquor is called the "sweet wort." Light the fire under the copper, and pour into it, for every bushel of malt that you have mashed, ¾ lb. of hops, or, if not very good, 1 lb. for every bushel. Stir these well into the wort, and keep it on a good hard boil for an hour, being very particular to make it boil all the while. This being done, you have now to cool the beer: rake the fire out from under the copper, and again take out your liquor in your buckets; put the cooler in some place away from the chances of dirt falling into it, and where it may stand level; then strain the liquor into it. The next operation is, the working; and the most difficult part of this is, to ascertain when, precisely, the liquor is cool enough to bear it. Experienced brewers generally ascertain this by the feel of the liquor, by merely putting the finger into it; but it is better to use the thermometer again; plunge it in, and when the quicksilver stands at 70 the heat is right. Then, with your buckets again, put the whole of the liquor out of the cooler into the tun-tub; and take a pint, or thereabouts, of fresh yeast (balm), and mix it in a bowl with some of the liquor; then pour it into the tun-tub with the liquor that is now cool enough to be set to work; mix it up a little by dipping the bowl in once or twice, and pouring it down from a height of two or three feet above the surface of the liquor in the tun-tub; then cover the tun-tub with cloths, as you did the mash-tub. In a few hours it will begin to work; that is, a little froth, like that of bottled porter, will begin to rise upon the surface; when this has risen to its height, and begins to flatten at the top and sink, it should be skimmed off, and is good yeast, and the beer is ready to put into the cask in your cellar. When you put it into the cask, let it stand a day, without being bunged down, because it may work a little there. When you find that it does not, then, if you use finings, put them in, and bung down tightly.
The following receipt is given to me by a gentleman who is celebrated for the excellence of his beer.
Suppose the brewer is about to make a hogshead of beer of good strength. Eight bushels of malt will be sufficient. Let the water, if not soft, stand two days in some vessel in the open air, which will soften it. One hundred and twenty gallons will be sufficient; and, if he uses ground malt, let him remember to attend to the heat of the water in the mash-tub before he puts it in, and also to the stirring and separating as it goes in. When it has stood long enough in the mash-tub, he must draw it off, and put it into the copper, and then throw in ¾ lb. of good hops for every bushel of malt; or, if the hops be not really good and strong, 1 lb. to the bushel. Boil the liquor at least an hour; but be very particular to make it boil the whole time; for much depends on this. Beer that has not boiled well is always crude, and soon spoils. It is the great fault of most brewers, that, to save the evaporation caused by a good boiling, they cool the liquor before it is sufficiently cooked. When it has boiled the proper time, pour it immediately, hot as it is, into a clean cask; put the bung and vent-peg in lightly; watch the cask, and when you find fermentation going on, which will show itself by a little oozing out of froth round the bung, take out both bung and vent-peg, and let them remain out till the working is over, and the froth begins to sink down into the cask; then put the bung and vent-peg in tightly, and the brewing is over. The cask should not be filled to running over, yet very little space should be left below the bung when driven in, as the body of air that would fill this vacancy would deaden the beer.
This mode deviates from that practised by my father, in two essential points: namely, the cooling and the working of the beer; for, in the last receipt it is not cooled at all, and no yeast is required to work it. If it answers, it is a less troublesome, and, calculating the cost of the coolers, less expensive mode of brewing than that detailed in the "Cottage Economy."
The "Cottage Economy" speaks of the necessity of keeping the casks in good order; and this is a matter, though of great importance, often neglected. New casks should be seasoned before they are used; one way recommended is, to boil 2 pecks of bran or malt dust in a copper of water, pour it hot into the cask, stop close, and let it stand two days, then wash it out well, and drain the cask. Servants are negligent about vent-pegs and bungs. They should be put in tight, the tap taken out, and a cork put in, as soon as the last beer is drawn. If the casks were kept in proper order, beer would not so often be spoiled. Of equal consequence, is the cleanness of the brewing utensils. They should be scoured well with a brush and scalding water, after they have been used. Do not use soap or any thing greasy. A strong ley of wood ashes may be used, if there be any apprehension of taint. When hops are dear, gentian may be substituted in part for them, in the proportion of 8¼ oz. gentian, and 2 lbs. hops, to 12 bushels of malt.
To Fine Beer.
Draw out a gallon of ale, put to it 2 oz. isinglass, cut small and beaten; stir the beer, and whip it with a whisk, to dissolve the isinglass, then strain, and pour it back into the cask, stir well, a few minutes, and put the bung in lightly, because a fresh fermentation will take place. When that is over stop it close; let the vent-peg be loose. Fermentation is over, make the vent-peg tight; and in a fortnight the beer will be fine. Drink 3 parts, and bottle the rest.—A good way to fine new beer, is to run the wort through a flannel into the tun, before it has worked.
For Stale Small Beer.
Put 1 lb. chalk, in small pieces, into a half hogshead, and stop it close. It will be fit to drink on the third day.—Or: put half chalk, and the other half hops.
To Bottle Beer.
Stone bottles are best. The best corks the cheapest, put them in cold water half an hour before you use them. The bottles perfectly clean and sweet, fill them with beer, put in each bottle a small tea-spoonful of powdered sugar, and let them stand uncorked, till the next day: then cork, and lay the bottles on their sides; or, better still, stand them with the necks downwards.—When a bottle is emptied, the cork should be returned into it directly, or it will become musty.
To Make Cider.
The apples quite ripe, but not rotten. If the weather be frosty, gather the apples, and spread them from 1 to 2 feet thick, on the ground, and cover with straw; if mild, let them hang on the trees, or remain under, if fallen, until you are ready to make the cider. It should not be made in warm weather, unless they are beginning to rot, in which case you must not delay. Unripe fruit should be made by itself, as the cider never keeps.—Large cider mills will make from 100 to 150 gallons in a day, according to the difference in the quality of fruit, some sorts of apples being more tough and less juicy than others, consequently requiring more grinding. Not more than 7 or 8 bushels should be put into the mill at once. They should be ground, till the kernels and rinds are all well mashed, to give the flavour to cider. Pour the cider from the mill into a press; press the juice well, then pour it into hogsheads. When it has done fermenting, and the time for this is very uncertain, rack it off into other hogsheads, let it settle, and then bung it down.
ENGLISH WINES AND CORDIALS.
Fruit of every kind should be gathered in dry sunny weather, quite ripe. All home made wines are the better for a little brandy; though some persons never use any.
To Clear Wine.
Dissolve ½ lb. hartshorn shavings in cider or rhenish wine; this is sufficient for a hogshead.—Or: to 2 table-spoonsful boiled rice, add ½ oz. burnt alum in powder: mix with a pint, or more, of the wine, stir it into the cask, with a stout stick, but do not agitate the lees.—Or: dissolve ½ oz. isinglass, in a pint or more of the wine, mix with it ½ oz. of chalk in powder, and put it into the cask: stir the wine, but not the lees.
British Sherry, or Malt Wine.
Take 12 quarts of the best sweet wort, from pale malt, let it cool and put it into a 10 gallon cask. Take as much water as will be required to fill up the cask, put it on the fire, with 22 lbs. of the best lump sugar, stir from time to time, and let it boil gently about a quarter of an hour, taking off the scum as it rises. Take it off the fire, let it cool, pour it into the cask, and put in a little good yeast. It may, perhaps, continue to ferment two or three weeks; when this has ceased, put in 3 lbs. raisins, chopped fine; these may cause fresh fermentation, which must be allowed to subside; then put in the rinds of 4 Seville oranges, and their juice, also a quart of good brandy; at the end of three or four days, if a fresh fermentation have not taken place, put the bung in tight. Keep it a year in the cask, then bottle it; the longer it is kept the better.—Or: stir 42 lbs. good moist sugar into 14 gallons of water, till it is dissolved, then boil it twenty minutes; let it cool in a tub, then put in 16 lbs. good Malaga raisins, picked and chopped; when it is quite cold pour in 2 gallons of strong beer ready to be tunned, and let it stand eight days; then taking out the raisins, put it into a 16 gallon cask, with 2 quarts of the best brandy, 1 lb. bitter almonds blanched, and 2 oz. isinglass. Bottle it in a year.
British Madeira.
Boil 30 lbs. moist sugar in 10 gallons of water, half an hour, and scum well. Let it cool, and to every gallon put 1 quart of ale, out of the vat; let this work, in a tub, a day or two; then put it in the cask, with 1 lb. sugar candy, 6 lbs. raisins, 1 quart of brandy, and 2 oz. isinglass. When it has ceased to ferment, bung it tight, for a year.
English Frontiniac.
Boil 11 lbs. lump sugar in 4 gallons of water, half an hour; when only milk warm, put it to nearly a peck of elder flowers, picked clear from the stalks, the juice and peel of 4 large lemons, cut very thin, 3 lbs. stoned raisins, and 2 or 3 spoonsful yeast: stir often, for four or five days. When quite done working, bung it tight, and bottle it in a week.
Red Currant Wine.
To 28 lbs. of moist sugar, allow 4 gallons of water, pour it over the sugar, and stir it well. Have a sieve of currants (which usually produces between 10 and 11 quarts of juice), squeeze the fruit with the hand, to break the currants, and as you do so, put the crushed fruit into a horse-hair sieve, press it, and when no more will run through the sieve, wring the fruit in a coarse cloth. Pour the juice on the sugar and water, mix it, and then pour it all into a 9 gallon cask, and fill it with water, if the barrel should not be full.—The cask should be filled up with water every day, while the wine ferments, and be bunged up tight, when it ceases. This is a cheap and simple method of making currant wine.—Or: put a bushel of red, and a peck of white currants, into a tub or pan, squeeze well; strain them through a sieve upon 28 lbs. of powdered sugar; when the sugar is dissolved put in some water in the proportion of 1½ gallon to 1 gallon of juice, pour it all into the barrel, add 3 or 4 pints of raspberries, and a little brandy.
Raisin Wine.
Put the raisins in at the bung-hole of a close cask (which will be the better for having recently had wine in it), then pour in spring water, in the proportion of a gallon to 8 lbs. raisins; the cask should stand in a good cellar, not affected by external air. When the fermentation begins to subside, pour in a bottle of brandy, and put the bung in loosely; when the fermentation has wholly subsided, add a second bottle of brandy, and stop the cask close. In a year it will be fit to bottle, immediately from the cask, without refining. Malaga raisins make the finest wine: Smyrna, rich and full, and more resembling foreign wine.
Gooseberry Wine.
To every pound of green gooseberries, picked and bruised, add 1 quart of water, steep them four days, stirring twice a day. Strain the liquor through a sieve, and to every gallon add 3 lbs. loaf sugar; also to every 20 gallons, a quart of brandy, and a little isinglass. When the sugar is dissolved, tun the wine, and let it work, which it will do in a week, or little more, keeping back some of the wine to fill up the cask, before you stop it close. Let it stand in the barrel six months, bottle it, in six more begin to drink it.
To make 4 gallons of Elder Wine.
Boil 1 peck of berries in 4 gallons of water, half an hour; strain and add 2½ lbs. moist sugar. To every gallon of water add ½ oz. cloves, and 2 oz. ginger, tied in a linen bag, boil it again five minutes, and pour it into a pan. When cold, toast a piece of bread on both sides, spread it with good yeast, and put it in the wine. When worked sufficiently, put it into a spirit cask, and cork it down; take the spice out of the cloth, and put it into the cask, with a tumbler of brandy. Leave the vent peg out a few days; in three weeks or a month bottle it. Elder Wine to drink cold.—Boil 1 gallon of berries in 2 gallons of water, two hours and a half. Add 3 lbs. moist sugar to every gallon of wine; boil it twenty minutes. Next day work it with a yeast toast. When worked enough, cask it, with ½ a bottle of brandy, and 7 lbs. raisins.
Ginger Wine.
Boil in 9 gallons of water 12 lbs. loaf sugar, 12 lbs. of moist, 12 oz. good ginger sliced, and the rind of 8 lemons, half an hour, scumming all the time; let it stand till lukewarm, put it into a clean cask with the juice of the lemons, 6 lbs. chopped raisins, and a tea-cupful of yeast, stir every day for ten days, add ¾ oz. of isinglass and 2 quarts of brandy. Stop close, and in four months bottle it.—Or: in 12 gallons of water boil 12 lbs. loaf sugar, 12 oz. ginger, and the rind of 24 lemons, half an hour, scumming all the time; then put it in the cask with the lemon juice, 12 lbs. raisins, and the yeast, stir every day for a fortnight, add 2 oz. isinglass and 1 quart of brandy.
Mountain Wine.
To 5 lbs. of large Malaga raisins, chopped very small, put a gallon of spring water; steep them a fortnight; squeeze out the liquor, and put it in a barrel: do not stop close until the hissing is over.
Primrose Wine.
Boil 18 lbs. lump sugar in 6 gallons of water, with the juice of 8 lemons, 6 Seville oranges, and the whites of 8 eggs; boil half an hour, taking off the scum as it rises; when cool put in a crust of toasted bread, soaked in yeast, let it ferment thirty-six hours: put into the cask the peel of 12 lemons, and of 10 Seville oranges, with 6 gallons of primrose pips, then pour in the liquor. Stir every day for a week, add 3 pints of brandy; stop the cask close, and in six weeks bottle the wine.
Cowslip Wine.
Boil 3½ lbs. lump sugar in 4 quarts of water an hour, skim and let it stand until lukewarm, pour it into a pan, upon 4 quarts of cowslip flowers; add a piece of toasted bread spread with yeast, and let it stand four days: put in as many lemons, sliced, as you have gallons of wine, mix and put it into a cask, and stop close.
Grape Wine.
To 1 gallon of bruised grapes (not over ripe), put 1 gallon of water. Let it stand six days, without stirring, strain it off fine, and to each gallon put 3 lbs. moist sugar; barrel, but do not stop it, till it has done hissing.—Or: the fruit barely half ripe, pick from the stalks, and bruise it, then put it in hair cloths, add an equal weight of water, and let it stand eighteen hours, stirring occasionally: dissolve in it from 3 lbs. to 3½ lbs. lump sugar, to each gallon, as you wish the wine to be more or less strong. Put it in a cask, fill it to the brim, and have 2 or 3 quarts in reserve to fill up with, as it diminishes by fermenting. Let it ferment ten days, when that is over, and there is no danger of the cask bursting, fasten it tight, leaving a small vent to open once a week, for a month. Fine and rack the wine in March, and bottle it in October; for a brisk wine, it must ferment eight days longer, and be bottled the following March, in cold weather.
Parsnip Wine.
Boil 1 bushel of sliced parsnips in 60 quarts of water, one hour, then strain it, add 45 lbs. lump sugar, boil one hour more, and when cold ferment with yeast; add a quart of brandy, then bottle it.—Or: to each gallon of water add 4 lbs. of parsnips, washed and peeled, which boil till tender; drain, but do not bruise them, for no remedy will make the wine clear: to each gallon of the liquor add 3 lbs. loaf sugar, and ½ oz. crude tartar, and when cooled to the temperature of 75, put in a little new yeast; let it stand four days, in a tub, in a warm room; tun it, and bung up when the fermentation has ceased. March and October are the best seasons. It should remain twelve months in cask before it is bottled.
Almond Wine.
Warm a gallon of water, add 3 lbs. loaf sugar, stir well from the bottom, and put in the white of an egg well beaten. When the water boils, stir, skim, and boil it an hour, put it in a pan to cool, and add ½ pint of yeast. Tun it next day, work it ten days, stirring once a day, then add to every gallon 1 lb. of sun raisins chopped, and rather less than ¼ lb. of almonds (pounded), more of bitter than sweet, and a little isinglass. Stop the cask close, for twelve months.
Cherry Bounce.
To 4 quarts of brandy, 4 lbs. of red cherries, 2 lbs. of black cherries, and 1 quart of raspberries, a few cloves, a stick of cinnamon, and a bit of orange peel: let it stand a month, close stopped, then bottle it; a lump of sugar in each bottle.
Orange Wine.
To 10 gallons of spring water put 30 lbs. of lump sugar: mix well, and put it on the fire with the whites of 7 eggs well beaten; do not stir before it boils: when it has boiled half an hour, skim well, put it into a tub, and let it stand till cold. Then put to it a pint of good ale yeast, and the peels of 10 Seville oranges very thin, let it stand two days, stirring night and morning. Then barrel it, adding the juice of 40 Seville oranges, and their peels. When it has done working, stop it close for six months before it is bottled.—Or: to 10 gallons of water, put 32 lbs. loaf sugar, and the whites of 4 eggs, beaten, boil as long as any scum rises, take that off, pour it through a sieve, and boil again, until quite clear; then pour it into a pan. Peel 100 Seville oranges, very thin; when the steam is a little gone off the water, put the peel into it, keeping back about a double handful. When the liquor is quite cold, squeeze in the juice; let it stand two days, stirring occasionally; then strain it, through a hair sieve, into the cask, with the peel in reserve. If the fermentation has ceased, it may be bunged down in a week or ten days.
Orange Brandy.
Steep the rinds of 8 Seville oranges and 3 lemons with 3 lbs. lump sugar, in 1 gallon of brandy, four days and nights. Stir often, and run it through blotting paper.
A Liqueur.
Fill one third of a quart bottle with black currants and a quarter part as much of black cherries, fill up with brandy, put in a cork, and let it stand a month; strain it through linen, put in sugar to taste, let it stand again a month, then strain and bottle it.—Quince may he used the same way, but in Rum.
Shrub.
To 1 quart of strained orange juice, put 2 lbs. loaf sugar, and 9 pints of rum or brandy; also the peels of half the oranges. Let it stand one night, then strain, pour into a cask, and shake it four times a day for four days. Let it stand till fine, then bottle it.—Lemon Shrub: to 1 gallon of rum or whiskey, put 1½ pint of strained lemon juice, 4 lbs. of lump sugar, the peel of 9 lemons, and 5 bitter almonds. Mix the lemon juice and sugar first, let it stand a week, take off all the scum, then pour it from one jug carefully to another, and bottle it.
Currant Rum.
To every pint of currant juice 1 lb. lump sugar, and to every 2 quarts of juice, 1 pint of water, set it over the fire, in a preserving pan, boil it, take off the scum, as it rises, and pour it into a pan to cool, stir till nearly cold, add to every 3 pints of liquor, 1 quart of rum, and bottle it.
Ratafia.
Infuse 1 oz. each of anise, dill, carraway, coriander, carrot, fennel, and angelica seeds, in 2 quarts of brandy, a fortnight in summer, and three weeks in winter: in the sun in summer, and in a chimney corner in winter. Shake it every day; strain through a jelly bag, and to every pint put 6 oz. of sugar, dissolved in water. Strain again, that it may be quite fine.—Or: for Pudding Sauces: blanch an equal quantity of peach, apricot, and nectarine kernels, slit and put them into a wide-mouthed bottle, with 1 oz. white sugar candy; fill it with brandy.
Noyeau.
Put ¼ lb. sweet and ¼ lb. bitter almonds with 2 lbs. sugar and the rinds of 3 lemons into a quart of brandy (white is best), with ½ pint new milk: shake and mix well together, every day for a fortnight; then strain and bottle it.
Real Drogheda Usquebaugh.
1 oz. anise seeds, ½ oz. fennel, 1 oz. green liquorice, 1 drachm coriander seeds, of cloves and mace, each 1 drachm, 1 lb. raisins of the sun, and ½ lb. figs. Slice the liquorice, bruise the other ingredients, and infuse all in a gallon of brandy eight days. Shake it 2 or 3 times a day; strain it, add 1 oz. of saffron in a bag: in two days bottle it.
Milk Punch.
Take 2 quarts of water, 1 quart of milk, ½ pint of lemon juice, 1 quart of brandy, and sugar to your taste: put the milk and water together a little warm, then the sugar, then the lemon juice, stir well, then add the brandy; stir again, run it through a flannel bag, till very fine; then bottle it. It will keep a fortnight or more.—Or: steep the rinds of 6 lemons in a bottle of rum three days; add 1 quart of lemon juice, 3 quarts of cold soft water, 3 quarts of rum, 3 lbs. lump sugar, and 2 nutmegs grated; mix well, add 2 quarts boiling milk, let it stand five hours; strain through a jelly bag, and bottle it.
Excellent Punch.
Put a piece of lemon peel into 3 pints of barley water, let it cool, add the juice of 6 lemons, and ½ pint of brandy; sweeten to taste, and put it in the cool, for four hours. Add a little fine old rum.
Norfolk Punch.
Steep the pulp of 12 lemons and 12 oranges, in 4 gallons of rum or brandy, twenty-four hours. Boil 12 lbs. of double refined sugar in 6 gallons of water, with the whites of 6 eggs, beaten to a froth; scum well; when cold, put it into the vessel with the rum, 6 quarts of orange juice, the juice of 12 lemons, also 2 quarts of new milk. Shake the vessel, to mix it; stop close, and let it stand in the cask two months, before you bottle it.
Roman Punch.
To the juice of 12 lemons and 2 oranges, add the peel of 1 orange cut thin, and 2 lbs. pounded loaf sugar, mix well, pass through a sieve, and mix it, gradually, with the whites of 10 eggs, beaten to a froth. Ice it a little, then add champagne or rum to your taste.
Regent's Punch.
A bottle of champagne, a ¼ pint of brandy, a wine glass of good old rum, and a pint of very strong green tea, with capillaire or any other syrup, to sweeten.
A cool Tankard.
Mix 2 wine-glassfuls of sherry, and 1 of brandy, in a tankard, with a hot toast, and sugar to taste; pour in a bottle of clear nice tasted ale, and stir it with a sprig of balm: then let it settle and serve it.
Porter Cup.
Put a bottle of porter, the same of table ale, a wine-glass of brandy, a dessert-spoonful of syrup of ginger, 3 lumps of sugar, and half a nutmeg grated into a covered jug, and set it in a cold place half an hour; just before you serve it stir in a table-spoonful of carbonate of soda.
Cider Cup.
Begin with whatever quantity of brandy you choose, and go on, doubling the other ingredients, namely: sherry, cider, soda water, a little lemon peel and cinnamon, sugar to your taste, and a bush of borage. Some persons put in a very little piece of the peel of cucumber, but this must be used sparingly, as the flavour is strong.
Ginger Beer.
Boil 14 lbs. lump sugar in 1½ gallon of water, with 2 oz. ginger, bruised, one hour; then add the whites of 8 eggs, well beaten; boil a little longer, and take off the scum as it rises; strain into a tub, and let it stand till cold; put it into a cask with the peel of 14 lemons cut thin, also the juice, a pint of brandy, and half a spoonful of ale-yeast at the top. Stop the cask close for a fortnight: then bottle, and in another fortnight it will be ready. Stone bottles are best.—Or: 1 oz. powdered ginger, ½ oz. cream of tartar, 1 large lemon sliced, 2 lbs. lump sugar, to 1 gallon of water, simmered half an hour: finish as above. Ginger Imperial.—Boil 2 oz. cream of tartar, the rind and juice of 2 lemons, 4 pieces of ginger bruised, and 1 lb. of sugar, in 6 quarts of water, half an hour. When cool, add 2 or 3 spoonsful yeast, and let it stand twenty-four hours, then bottle in ½ pint bottles, and tie down the corks. In three days it will be ready. An improvement to this is ¾ lb. sugar, ¼ lb. honey, and 1 tea-spoonful of essence of lemon.
Spruce Beer.
Mix a pint of spruce with 12 lbs. of treacle, stir in 3 gallons of water, let it stand half an hour, put in 3 more gallons of water, and a pint of yeast, stir well, and pour it into a 10 gallon cask, fill that with water, and let it work till fine; bottle it; let the bottles lie on their sides three days, then stand them up, in three more days it will be ready.
Crême d'Orange.
Slice 16 oranges, pour over them 1 gallon of rectified spirits, and 1¼ pint of orange flower water; in ten days, add 7 lbs. of clarified syrup, a quart of water, and ½ oz. of tincture of saffron: keep it closed, and in a fortnight strain the liquor through a jelly bag, let it settle, then pour from the sediment, and bottle it.
Raspberry or Mulberry Brandy or Wine.
Bruise fine ripe fruit with the back of a wooden spoon, and strain into a jar through a flannel bag, with 1 lb. of fine powdered loaf sugar to every quart of juice; stir well, let it stand three days, covered close; stir each day: pour it off clear, and put 1 quart of brandy, or 2 of sherry, to each quart of juice; bottle it, and it will be ready in a fortnight.
Spring Sherbet.
Scrape 10 sticks of rhubarb and boil them, ten minutes, in a quart of water; strain the liquor through a tammis cloth into a jug, add the peel of 1 lemon, very thin, and 2 table-spoonsful of clarified sugar; in six hours it is ready.
FLIP.
While a quart of ale is warming on the fire, beat 3 eggs with 4 oz. moist sugar, a tea-spoonful of grated ginger or nutmeg, and a quart of rum or brandy. When the ale is near boiling, pour it into one pitcher, the eggs and rum into another, and turn it from one to the other, until smooth as cream.
Egg Wine.
To 1 quart of Lisbon white wine, put 1 quart of water, sweeten to taste, and add a little nutmeg. Have ready the yolks of 3 eggs well beaten; boil the mixed wine and water, and pour it quickly on the beaten eggs, and pour from one bason to another, until it froths high. Serve in cups.
To Mull Wine.
Boil the quantity you choose, of cinnamon, nutmeg grated, cloves or mace, in a ¼ pint of water; add a pint of Port, and sugar to taste, boil it up, and serve it hot.
The Pope's Posset.
Blanch, pound, then boil in a little water, ½ lb. sweet, and a very few bitter almonds, strain, and put the liquid into a quart of heated white wine, with sugar to sweeten; beat well, and serve hot.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE DAIRY.
This, of all the departments of country house-keeping, is the one which most quickly suffers from neglect; and of all the appendages to a country dwelling, there is nothing which so successfully rivals the flower garden, in exciting admiration, as a nice dairy. From the show-dairy, with its painted glass windows, marble fountains and china bowls, to that of the common farm house, with its red brick floor, deal shelves, and brown milk-pans, the dairy is always an object of interest, and is associated with every idea of real comfort, as well as of imaginary enjoyment, attendant upon a country life.
The management of this important department in a country establishment, from the milking of the cows, to the making of the butter and the cheese, must necessarily be almost wholly intrusted to a dairy maid, who ought to be experienced in the various duties of her office, or she cannot be skilful in the performance of them. Those persons who have excelled in dairy work, have generally learnt their business when quite young, as a knowledge of it is not to be hastily acquired. The great art of butter and cheese-making, consists in extreme care and scrupulous cleanliness; and an experienced dairy maid knows, that when her butter has a bad taste, some of the dairy utensils, the churn, the pail, or the pans, have been neglected in the scalding, or, the butter